1 ^ lOUO 




w^^^ 



'^s^^^'^^'p-j 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS 



DELIVERED AT TiyS 



I OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, 



ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT, AUG. 5, 1846, 



BY 



HERMAN M. JOHNSON, A. M., 

PROFESSOR OK ANCIENT LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE. 



PUBLISHED BY REUUEST OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 



^ CINCINNATI: 

PRINTED AT THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN. 

R. P. Thompson, Printer. 
1846. 



'^^^^^^^ 




INAUGURAL ADDKESS, 



DELIVERED XT THE 



OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVEESITY, 



ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT, AUG. 5, 184G, 



HERMAN M. JOHNSON, A. M., 

PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT LANGUAGES' AND LITERATURE. 



?v. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OP THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES. 




5" CINCINNATI: 

PKINTED AT THE METHODIST EQOK CONCERN. 



R, r. Thompson, Printer. 
184G. 






ADVERTISEMENT. 



The haste in which tliis Address was composed, at irregular inten'als 
snatched from the closing scenes of the term, must be its apology for imper- 
fections. It was designed simply to define, as due to the Curators of the Uni- 
versity, the views of the writer respecting that department of instruction 
which ho is appointed by them to conduct. Knowing tliat its interest must be 
mainly limited to those who have already heard it, it is only from respect to the 
unanimous request of tlie Board of Trustees, and the solicitations of other 
friends of the institution, that the author yields his reluctance to see it obtruded 
furtlier ou tlie notice of the public. 



INAUGUEAL ADDRESS, 



Gentlemen of the Board of Trustees, and Visitors of the 

Ohio Wbsleyan University: 

The authority of prescriptive usage, has imposed upon those who 
are called to fill the chairs of public instruction in the liberal arts, 
that they should give an early exposition of their views of ihe doc- 
trines or sciences in which they are appointed to labor. The pro- 
priety of this usage it is not our province now to question. 

It M'ill not be expected by the audience, that we attempt, on such 
an occasion, any thing like a popular harangue. The character of 
our subject — Avhich is simply to define our views of the nature, the 
rank, and the scope of linguistic studies — effectually precludes 
this, even if it were otherwise desirable. 

I shall consider it no part of my ofllce to enter any plea in favor 
of the study of the ancient languages, or institute arguments to 
prove their utility. The doubts concerning them so often met with, 
and the reluctance to the labor required, we have generally found to 
be of such a nature, as did not seek to be enlightened by argument, 
and could not be overcome by words. More enlarged views of 
man's sphere of action, and experience of his capabilities and 
wants, are the only sure corrective of these erroneous notions. 

But this experience, we are sorry to know, often comes to 
youths of the best talent only when the most precious season of 
improvement is past; and they are left to regret, when too late to 
repair, the folly of having formed to themselves a definition of 
uti/ifi/ so illiberal, and so antagonistic to the best interests of man, 
and the advancement of science and general truth. 

Nor have we to do with those who, in their fondness for experi- 
mental radicalism, seek to unsettle established customs, simply 
because they are established — who believe to find wisdom rather in 
experiment of the present than in experience of the past; and who 
would proscribe, from a course of American education, all classical 
studies, because, forsooth, they are embraced in the institutions of 
aristocratic Europe ! It shames us to know tiiat our country can 



4 INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 

have produced men, and still more, can tolerate in high places, 
men, who blush not to stand as the advocates of such captious 
crudities. 

Before entering directly upon our subject, we premise, that the 
immediate object of systemized instruction is two-fold — the acquisi- 
tion of knowledge, and mental discipline. These two constitute 
education, and may not be separated. Could the latter be gained 
without the former, the mind were like a curious and well-made 
machine, without hands to guide it, or materials to work in it. If 
the former without the latter, it were a store-house of all sorts of 
commodities lumbered together, without skill to arrange or craft to 
use them. 

Happily, we cannot acquire knowledge to any great extent 
without thereby gaining something of culture and discipline of 
mind. To acquire, implies study or observation; to acquire much, 
a habit of study or observation, or botli; and he who has that 
habit established, is not far from being able to reason; and to reason 
we understand to be the highest prerogative of our intellectual 
nature. 

liy reason we mean, of course, not the ability to construct a 
syllogism willi Aristotelean accuracy and precision — not that dia- 
lectical acumen that can 

" Distingtiisli and divide 
A hair 'twixt soulli and soulliwcst side; 
On eitlier which it can dispute, 
Confute, change liands, and still confute;'' 

but we mean, to exercise all the reasoning Hiculties in perfection — to 
apprehend readily and clearly — to distinguish every false from a true 
issue — to take a large and comprehensive view of the subject in all 
its relations — to form a judgment disiTrit nnd free from fiior. :uul 
that shall guide to right action. 

Tins great end — to reason justly and ail rightly — is not gained 
by slight study or partial knowledge; for if to do this in a perfect 
way, implies that the mental powers be so under the control of the 
will and an enlightened conscience, as never to err wantonly, it also 
implies that the mind be so furnished with knowledge from every 
human source, as not to err from ignorance. And while none may 
hope to attain absolutely to such a standard, it is that toward 
which all true education tends. Wo take it, therefore, as a thing 



/ 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 5 

granted, tliat every young man of generous impulse — of high and 
liberal aspirations, will lay hold eagerly on every means of instruc- 
tion vitliin his reach, as contributing undoubtedly to the perfection 
of his mental powers. 

I have said that knowledge cannot be acquired, to any great extent, 
without gaining thereby something of culture and discipline of 
mind. This is in the general true. On the other hand, such exer- 
cises as induce a rigid discipline, do not always bring a correspond- 
ing increase of knowledge. One of the readiest writers known in 
modern times, and a profound scholar, and who gained in his life- 
time a wide-spread fame, almost unprecedented in the annals of 
literature, attributed his unparalleled abilities to the fact that he was 
compelled in boyhood to the irksome task of writing in an attorney's 
office regularly, and for several hours a day. The copying the 
same legal document, with its barbarous phraseology, for the thou- 
sandth time, added nothing to his stock of ideas; but it gave him a 
habit of patient application, Avhich was, in later years, of im- 
measurable advantage — which was, in fact, tlie foundation of his 
surprising facility of labor, and the unfailing success of his felicitous 
execution. And the prince of Athenian orators, when he shut him- 
self up in his cave, and disligured his form that he could not go 
abroad, and sat down to the labor of copying with his own hand not 
less than eight or ten times the entire history of Thucydides, sub- 
mitted to that painful drudgery not, as is generally said, so much 
for the sake of imbibing the spirit and style of that sententious 
writer, as to gain that power of application, and the habit of close, 
uninterrupted thought, by which he was able afterward to gather, 
with a strong arm, wide seas of knowledge into the great reservoir 
his hand had scooped, and pour forth, at will, the lava tide of his 
eloquence and burning patriotism, in whatsoever channel he chose. 
In view of this principle, some studies which are, to many minds, 
and for many pursuits in life, little better than the tread-mill task of 
the copyist, are wisely retained in the common systems of instruc- 
tion. 'J'lius, to determine the position of a Greek accent, or to 
demonstrate a theorem in Euclid, or to solve a problem in lluxions, 
may be, for all practical purposes, as barren of immediate results, 
as the most barren thing imaginable ; yet the labor they require 
may contribute a capability of productiveness like the sources of an 
unfailing fountain. 

1* 



6 INAraURAL ADDRESS. 

ll may be remarked I'urlhcr, that {liUbrent studies induce dil- 
ferenl habits of thoujrht, and modes of reasoning. Some incul- 
cate tlie spirit of positiveness and dogmatical certainty; and if 
cultivated exclusively, would unfit the mind to appreciate the 
numberless contradictory or qualifying circumstances of real life. 
Others, again, deal only in probabilities ; and if tlieir influence be 
not corrected by a due intermixture of the more exact sciences, the 
mind would come to lack stability and confidence in its judgments. 

It is also to be observed, lliat some studies, besides the great 
objects already named, may be said properly to cullivate the mind — 
to wear ofl' the asperities of nature — to humanize and refine the 
feelings — to impart the consciousness of higher perfection to the 
whole mental machinery and operations, while others are, in this 
respect, to say the least, quite neutral. 

From these preliminaries, we return to our original proposition — 
to consider, first. 

The nature of linguistic studies. In all the sciences, and all 
the pursuits of life, there are initiatory requirements, which are of 
worth only as instrumental to the ultimate object. The mechanic 
must have his tools, and the farmer his implements of husbandry, 
obtained often at considerable expense of time or money: he must 
have acquired a skill in the use of them by a tedious apprenticeship, 
and must distinguish them by names. The physician has his 
technicalities, the lawyer his formulas, the naturalist his nomencla- 
ture, and the mathematician his figures and definitions. So in 
acquiring a language, the classification of words, according to their 
use; tlieir appropriate designations; their forms and inflections; the 
idea they represent; the definitions of principles; the laws of 
derivation and collocation: all these musi be learned. These con- 
stitute the grainmar, which is, simply interpreted, the letter book 
or primer of a language. 'J'his, it will be seen, is mainly the mere 
task-work of the memory, and is best performed in childhood or 
early youth, 'i'here is a period, before the reasoning powers are 
developed, in which there is a pleasure in the mere acquiring of 
words, and ideas, and facts, without knowing well, or thinking of 
the value of such acquisition, just as there is a physical pleasure to 
the child in exercising his limbs without any olject than merely that 
pleasure which it gives him. The memory is also more tenacious 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 7 

in this season than afterward, wlien the mind is more occupied with 
reflection. 

There are other studies, it is true, which may be accomplished in 
this season. Geography, which is but a system of facts, is easily 
acquired. Also the whole range of facts in natural science and 
natural history; in fine, facts, universally — whatever does not 
require reasoning, or metaphysical discrimination, or abstruse dem- 
onstration. History is read with avidity, and its facts retained. 
Poetry is committed to memory for the music of its rhythm, not its 
sentiment. 

While the youth is thus learning the grammar and definitions of 
words in another language, he is becoming acquainted, impercepti- 
bly, with its standard literature. He is charmed with the recital of 
her historians; his energies are roused by the pathos of her orators ; 
the discussions of her philosophers, and select portions of her best 
poets are gathered to the store-house of his memory, as food for 
mental nourishment and growth in riper years. We think, there- 
fore, that the child should, at an early age, be made familiar with 
the rudiments of the sciences, and especially of the principal lan- 
guages it is designed he shall learn. He who fails of this privilege, 
has to perform, in mature years, with labor that frequently becomes 
irksome, if not disgusting, that which might have been done in the 
proper season with ease and pleasure. 

It is no valid objection to this course, that the learner would thus 
load his memory with many things which he could not comprehend. 
If they are fixed in the memory, they will be comprehended as the 
mind becomes sufficiently mature. Knowledge thus laid in store, 
is not the less knowledge because not immediately made available : 
it is only latent, and will, in due time, be developed. In the 
moment of collision, or great emergency, it starts suddenly into 
power, as the spark leaps from the smitten steel. And in the hours 
of silent labor and reflection, the hidden truths come forth from the 
mists of childhood, in their beauty and brilliance, as when the 
clouds that have overspread the heavens begin to disperse, the stars 
of night burst unexpectedly upon the vision, one after another, (ill 
the whole firmament is filled with their radiance. If there were no 
latent heat in the steel, the flint might be worn to dust and elicit no 
spark. If there were no stars behind, t!ie clouds might withdraw 



8 INAUOrRAL ADDRESS, 

and leave llie heavens a vacant sphere of blackness. We sav, then 
let all the latent capacity of the mind be fdled while it may. 

But we are speaking thus far of studies strictly rudimental. In 
noticing the range of studies pertaining to this department, it will 
be perceived that the pupil soon enters on a ticld of wider interest 
than that of conning grammatical forms, or chasing stray radicals 
through the columns of a lexicon, or whipping refractory particles 
into construct order. Certain other things are essential to an under- 
standing of the authors read. To read history, in any language, 
requires a geographical knowledge of the countries for the times 
treated of. To read the orators, poets, and philosophers, requires a 
knowledge of the history of that people ; the geography of their 
eountry; their government, and their received systems of religion. 

But to regard these merely as helps to understand the text-books 
of the class, is placing in secondary rank that which has a claim to 
stand in the first. What is the ultimate object of this labor of 
learning? Not, certainly, to supply man's pliysical wants — not to 
minister to the gratification of sense. Tiic i'armer may not be 
able to guide the plough, or wield the spade any the more expertly 
for knowing there is such a people as the Chinese, or that we bring 
cloths from Britain — that Homer wrote poetry, or that our fathers 
fought for a free government. It suffices for him, as an aninial, that 
he can dig in the soil, and knows the way to market, and that he 
busy himself with learning so far only as to know the price of corn. 
Nor is the blacksmith's or the carpenter's arm strengthened, or his 
coffee sweetened by these studies. They have no direct perti- 
nence whatever to these material interests. Man has physical 
wants that must be satisfied, and every man must labor that they 
may be satisfied; and the advance of science shall contribute 
increased facilities for accomplishing that purpose; but all iliat is 
secondary to the great objects of life. And when we see one 
beginning to count up the net value, in dollars or cents, of this or 
that particular study, we say, Alas for that soul ! he has a hard 
lesson yet to learn before he knows what is life. The scales are on 
his eyes, and he has not yet discovered that man is a ghost and not 
an animal; he could not see that Diogenes was greater in his tub 
than Alexaniler at the head of armies ; yet so manifest was his 
superiority as to excite the envy of that conqueror of the world. 
And till one has a spiritual eye somewhat opened, it were of little 



INAUGURAT, ADDRESS. 9 

worth to attempt, by arguments, to remove his ntilitarian, as he 
calls them, scruples about the propriety of studies; for we should 
think meanly of ourselves to use the sordid dollar argument, which 
we once heard from one, who, mistaking his restlessness of nature 
for ambition, and a petty vanity for magnanimity, was declaiming 
volubly in favor of universal knowledge. For thus: while he was 
in college, his institution was furnished witli a teacher of Hebrew. 
Not knowing what use he might have for it, he seized tiie opportu- 
nity to learn that language. Afterward, when teaching in a neigh- 
boring city, he was applied to by one who wished to become his 
pupil to learn Hebrew ; and thus he got a tuition fee of fifty dollars, 
which he should otherwise have lost; /Aer(?/b re, he would advise 
all young men to study Hebrew ! Science is degraded by such 
advocates !~ The world is injured by their egregious folly! 

But we return to the question. What is the ultimate object of 
all this labor of learning? We understand it to be, to bring man 
acquainted with his mental nature — its powers and its weakness — 
and to perfect all his capabilities, so far as it can be done by 
acquisition, and reflection, and reasoning, and so prepare the man 
for more acceptable obedience and service to his Maker. 

The old maxim abides the test of the world's experience— "The 
proper study of mankind is man" — and how shall we study man 
but in his works? How detect the laws of mind but in the phe- 
nomena of its operations? Whatever, therefore, serious men have 
done or attempted to do, or even the acts into which they have been 
hurried by their folly or madness; in fine, whatever exhibits any 
new phase of humanity, becomes an object of interest. 

And what particular bearing on this great object have the studies 
of the department we are now considering? They open to us the 
door of antiquity ; they lead us back through the walks of the 
ancient world, casting everywhere a light upon our pathway more 
or less clear; they introduce us to the companionship of those who, 
in past ages, have lived so as to commit their names and their 
labors to during remembrance, and give us a living and luiman 
interest in their works; they do, in fact, what human science can do 
toward solving the great problem of man; and enable us to see, in 
the light of Revelation, where luiman science fails, and prepare the 
mind to receive and profit by the truths derived from that sacred 
source. 



10 IKAUUURAL ADDRESS. 

It will be perceived, then, that we intend much more than to 
teach the rudiments of grammar, and to construe and render into 
schoolboy English a lew authors in Latin and Greek. These will 
constitute the basis of a system of operations which shovld range 
wide as the works of man; and thouirh this is not possible, by 
reason of man's limited powers, it will be our intention to give 
them the utmost extension of range practicable. 

I have already spoken of geography as essential, in its secondary 
rank. Together with this, the student of antiquity is to be made 
acquainted with the history of geographical science — to learn ia 
what measure, and by what means, man slowly extended his knowl- 
edge of the form and diversity of the earth on which he dwells. 
This will embrace a notice of many important historical events: 
the early enterprises of commerce, of migration, and warlike 
adventure. And this can all be done in a few brief lectures, with 
the aid of proper charts, when the classes shall have become 
familiar with the systems of statistical geography furnished for 
our use. 

History, too, is to be known. Not merely so mucli as shall 
serve to illustrate the text-books in hand; but the history of, at 
least, all the prominent and cultivated nations of antiquity, with as 
much divergence into the investigations of inferior tribes as circum- 
stances shall admit; and that not in its facts merely, but in its phi- 
losophy. The facts of history furnish material for the profoundest 
speculation and reasoning, and have engaged the studies of some of 
the greatest scholars of modern times; and if they cannot reduce 
the subject to the exactitude of a science, there is, in what they 
denominate, " The philosophy of history," that which shall con- 
tinue to interest the mind the more, the more it advances in knowl- 
edge and maturing of reason. And tliese things are to be familiarly 
discussed to the comprehension of the classes. And with this must 
he connected a survey of the history of historic literature, especially 
in those two languages which wo usually denominate the Classic. 

And in poetry. Besides the specimens which the student may 
be able to read in the brief time «>f a college course, he must study 
the science of poetry, ami apply its principles, and l\)nn his judg- 
ment, and perfect his taste in whatever pertains to that pleasing art. 
So in oratory. So k\ philosophy. He must learn and weigh, in 
the deliberations of his own judgment, that which the ancients have 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 11 

taught conceniing the deepest spiritual interests of man, as the light 
of tlieir wisdoiu and the perfection of their morals. And though 
the student cannot sludi/ the literature of other nations as he is 
expected to do the Latin and Greek; yet should he liave presented, 
in the way above suggested, a distinct outline, if not a well-filled 
sketch of the literature of all nations whose history can be gathered. 
But that to which his studies more directly tend, is the science of 
philology, embracing philosopliieal grammar and criticism. This 
subject is attracting more attention yearly, and its full importance is 
but beginning to be appreciated as its principles come to be under- 
stood. This proposition may seem strange to some who had 
fancied that the study of the dead languages was about to cease. 
Yet sucli is the fact ; the science of philology, both absolute and 
comparative, is strictly of recent origin. Nor need it be thought 
strange, that man should have used speech for so long a time with- 
out a true knowledge of its character. So had he the earth under 
his feet from the beginning — so drank he the breezes of heaven, and 
warmed him by the fire he had kindled ; and yet, of the earth on 
which he trod, of the air he breathed, of the water he drank, of the 
fire that warmed him, and of all the objects of sense — those which 
earliest attract the attention, and are most obvious to inspection, he 
had remained, till quite recently, as profoundly ignorant of the con- 
stitution and real nature, as he now is of the dark scroll of eternity 
that preceded the creation of our world. But these times called 
modern, have grown bold and strong. Nature is no longer a god- 
dess shrouded in the obscurity of some venerable sanctuary, sufler- 
ing herself to be but distantly approached, and responding ever 
with evasion or ambiguity. The ministers that wait at her altars, 
have interrogated with an authority that has claimed a decisive 
response. They have unvailed the mysteries, and brought forth 
from her arcana the wonderful things she had kept liid from of 
olden time. And from the multiplied series of facts thus deduced, 
new and distinct sciences have been clearly digested. Simultaneous 
with these movements that have brought such results from the 
material world, the same earnestness of investigation, and the same 
power of analysis, have been applied to this myt^terious agency 
which forms the means and medium of comnumicatii)a between 
spirit and spirit. Language is the instrument of man's inctaphysi- 
cal nature, as material objects are of his physical: it is the Heliconian 



12 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

fountain which embalms the thought in its uttered freshness, and 
preserves it in immortal beauty. By the labors thus newly directed, 
the subject of interpretation has been relieved of much of the 
absurdity which, during the reign of monkish illiteracy, had been 
heaped around it. 

The connection, also, between the different families of languages, 
and their surprising analogies, constituting the science of compara- 
tive philology, is not the least interesting part of these varied studies. 

The importance of this science is abundantly manifest by the 
light it has already shed on many portions of history otherwise 
obscure, or wholly lost; and by the certainty it gives of correct 
interj)retation of ancient writings, especially those that contain the 
principles of our holy religion. 

You sec, then, something of the range we intend to give the 
study of this department; much of which, for lack of suitable text- 
books, must be accomplished by lectures. 

"We intend a course of lectures on tlie liUlory of language — its 
origin, gradual developments — its confusion, and the multifold 
diversity it has exhibited. This will require a notice of those 
earlv cmic[rations of great bodies of people ; and it will be seen 
that the wanderings of obscure tribes can be traced by the fragments 
of their language, which they have left scattered here and there, and 
which have been gathered, and compared, and digested by the 
inquisitive patience of the modern philologist. It must, also, 
include a notice of the origin of written language, and the diOerent 
methods invented to represent to the eye articulate sounds, and an 
examination of tlieir comparative merits. 

To this must follow a course on the philosophy of language: a 
subject full of deep interest when the mind has become sufllciently 
mature, and accustomed to analysis and mctaj)hysical discrimination. 

Third: another course on literature — that of all the nations of 
antiquity, so far as it can be gathered, more especially that of Greece 
and Rome. 'J'his must be exhibited in its separate departments, 
hiistorically, and with critical examination. 

To this might, most profitably, be appended a continuation, in the 
Barae m^liod, of the lectures on literature, coming down through 
all the natVjns of modern Europe to the present time. But this 
would be a j)orf(.rmance of so great labor, and as not necessarily 
belonging to my dipaiimciii. in rcsj)eci to it. 1 oflcr no pledges. 



INAUGURAL ADDRES3. 13 

Other series, less extended, on several other subjects, as •govern- 
ment, the philosophy of history, geography, &c., will complete the 
circuit of wliat is to be done by lectures. 

Thus have I given that which was the main object of this 
address, as concisely as seemed practicable — an outline of the 
studies in that department of the University in Avhich I have the 
honor to labor. It is somewhat more comprehensive than has 
liitherto been carried out in our American colleges; but in drawing 
this hint, I trust I have not permitted my fancy or zeal to carry me 
beyond discretion. Of this I have good assurance, in the judgment 
of my respected colleagues, and some other gentlemen of science 
and classical attainments to whom it has been submitted. 

It remains to notice, briefly, some of the incidental advantages 
that accrue to the studies of this department, aside from those we 
have already named as the more direct object. 

I. Jls to the dlsciplhie of the mind. We have already said, 
that, in this respect, the influence of difl'erent studies is quite diverse. 

Mathematical science, by reason of the fixed and positive nature 
of its processes, and its conciseness of expression, induces a habit 
of close, consecutive thought. Its importance is incalculable; for 
nothing else could supply its lack. In this respect, it stands un- 
rivaled. The danger is, that it should hebetate the imagination, 
and destroy the vivacity of the mind. It must be the most eff"ectual 
corrector of verbosity and straggling fluency, the curse of many a 
gifted youth; for it admits no latitude of expression. Its phrases 
are compressed to the smallest possible dimensions, and stereotyped. 
The danger would be that it might induce a style too litde varied, 
and barren of ornament. As its reasoning is demonstration, its 
conclusions are certain. The habit carried into other things is 
dogmatism. In all these respects, the influence of classical studies 
is widely different; but we think not less beneficial. Instead of 
the positive nature of its processes and conclusions, the exercise of 
translation is to the tyro often in uncertainty: at the best, a proba- 
bility. This, though not so agreeable to the mind, as being loss 
satisfactory, has this advantage, that it is nearer to the experiences 
of practical life; and this in especial, it inculcates the habit of 
regarding whatever is done, as not absolutely finished: though 
done well, it may l)c better: though praised, there is chance for 

2 



14 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

improvement: thai there is yet a liighcr point of perfection, whicli 
may be approximated by labor and repeated trial. 

Anolljor comparison would show tlie extreme diversenoss of these 
studies in another respect, in which, perhaps, both are equally im- 
portant. The child that cannot count five, may tell you, when he 
has two apples in one iiand, and two in the other, that he has four 
apples; but so soon as he comprehends that two and two make 
four, abstract from individual objects, he has mastered the essential 
principle on which true maiheinatical science rests. From that 
point on, it is but the extension and repetition of the same exercise 
of computation or reasoning in abstractions. In translating, on the 
other hand, a single sentence, every variety of intellectual operation 
is requisite: the exercise of memory; the apprehension of a simple 
fact; the grouping together many facts ; comparing, deliberating, 
judgins:, analyzing, synthesizing — all. 

II. The acqimition thus gained, of practical value. 

1. Accuracy in the use of our own language. This point cannot 
be gained, in any near degree, without the study of Latin and 
Greek. Fluency may not be wanting, but facility and accuracy 
combined, is not found but by this means. 

2. The practical acquaintance it gives one of other sciences, 
The pupil may learn from the proper text-book the theory or system 
of rhetoric. But in the reading, as he does in his classical studies, 
of the best models, and every variety of composition, he has a 
practical lesson in rhetoric from beginning to end, in which the 
mind can hardly fail to become imbued with all that is essential in 
rhetoric, except the form and name, and without which ll)e theory 
were of little worth. 

There w:is no AristoUe before there was a Homer. There was 
no Quinrtilian before there was a Cicero and a Virgil. There can 
be no forming a theory, or system of rhetorical principles, till the 
mind is already a critic in every kind of style and elocution. And 
with every learner, we apprehend, tlie process by which he becomes, 
if at all, master of the subject, is much the same. 

So in rej^nrd to mental pijilosophy. One cannot make great pro- 
gress iu the art of interpretation and criticism, without gaining, at 
some time, some acquaintance with the philosophy of mind, lie 
has constant occasion to observe the laws which govern it, if he has 
learned tliem, or a chance and almost a necessity to detect them, if 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 15 

he has not. The praclic-e, therefore, of critical reading and transla- 
tion is a continuous study in metaphysics. 

III. It improves the tasle. 'I'his woukl be true of any reading, 
and especially a systematic and extended reading of the classic liter- 
ature of any language, as necessarily as constant association with 
good society will improve the manners of the rustic. To fdl the 
mind with all noble sentiments of the good and earnest of all times — 
to enjoy a daily companionship of the greatest minds that have 
illustrated the literature of the world, is certainly no small advan- 
tage. But especially in the productions of the ancients, there is a 
simplicity of thought, and a strength and freshness of feeling, and 
unsophisticated naturalness, that forms a most wholesome antidote 
to the fastidiousness and finical sentimentalism or artificialness to 
which there is so strong a tendency in the present age. That we 
are correct in this opinion, is seen, in that the men of truest taste 
have ever been found among those who have drunk deep from the 
fountain of the ancient muses. 

We might further assert, with safety, that not only are these 
important advantages gained by the means here indicated, but this is 
the oidy means left us by which they can be gained in any perfect 
degree. Have there been, then, in these modern times, none emi- 
nent for intellectual strength and perfection of taste and judgment, 
without this consumption of years in the study of wearisome 
antiquity ? No great poet, no great orator, no great historian, none 
great in any of the walks of literature ? We answer, Not any, nor 
will be, nor can be. The youth who turns aside from the instruc- 
tion of these classic exemplars, thinking to shorten thereby the way 
to disliticlion and usefulness, efl'ectually cuts himself off from any 
just hope, if not possibility, of gaining that eminence toward which 
he looks. But are there not some men of such transcendant genius 
as to spurn the trammels to which ordinary minds sul)mit, and to 
whom such discipline would be rather hurtful than advantageous ? 
Nay, there is the fatalest delusion that delights to sport itself with 
human imbecility. A delusion, too, often countenanced and fos- 
tered by those who should be tlie correctors of its wantonness. It 
is true, the process of events brings upon the stage of action every 
now and then some prodigy of eccentric or ill-balanced mind, the 
fire of whose genius astonisiics and dazzles a gaping world. These 
are the comets — the meteors of our mental system. Like them, 



l(\ INAUOVRAL ADDRESS. 

tlipy c;lare with a momentary brilliance that consumes itself in its 
own fires, or shed, in tlieir erratic course, a baleful inlluence over 
the worUl, boding and creating pitiable varieties of intellectual dis- 
ease and pestilence. Proper culture might liave rendered them a 
blessing to their kind, enabling them to shed a steady and healthful 
light, like the lixed or regularly revolving luminaries of heaven. 



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